Matt’s Musings

I stopped over at Sphinn this morning and noticed that Kevin Gibbons of SEOptimise Ltd. of Oxford, UK had bookmarked an article from SEORoundtable titled, “Are The Best SEOs Not Taking on Client Work?“  That article was developed as a response to a thread the author read on a popular webmaster forum where the writer pondered the reasoning behind why an SEO expert would take on client work instead of building up their own ideas.

Though I don’t call myself an SEO expert — I’ll leave the bragging to those who have built up a name for themselves over the years — I’ve had to ask myself the same question several times since I launched my freelance writing site, The Article Writer, in May 2005: would I do better building up my personal network of sites or should I take on client work?

Well, that answer would be “all of the above” as I like to balance the work that I do for my clients with the small network of sites I own and manage.  Definitely, I like receiving money from a client for work done, but I also like to monetize my sites and use them as one way to showcase my talents.  My thinking in this area is probably best described along these lines:

Build, Monetize, and Sell — Over the past three years I’ve built up more than a dozen sites from the ground up, monetized almost every single one of them, and later sold off ten forums, blogs, and websites during that period. There is a certain thrill that I get when I build a site from scratch, attract a following, make some money off of it and, when tired of it, am able to sell it for a profit.

Fix, Improve, and Move On — When working for a client, I almost always am brought on to help improve an existing site. I’ve gotten away from building sites from nothing as the time involved in this work is intensive. Besides, I haven’t kept up with my web design skills other than being able to build a decent WordPress blog with the assorted tools I like to use. What’s fun about this option is that I can measure a job’s progress and show the client where improvements have been made. In most cases they quickly see it for themselves which makes my job a snap.

Mixing Things Up — I promised myself when I became self-employed in 2002 that I wouldn’t grow stagnant in my work. My last full time paid position hindered my growth, something that I will not allow to happen again. I do have a long term strategy in place, but I also make adjustments along the way. I find that making careful changes helps me to work better, a benefit for my clients as well as for my sites.

How about you? What is your business strategy? Do you like to work for clients exclusively? For yourself? Or do you balance the two? Inquiring minds want to know, so please hit the comment button and share what’s on your mind.

Filed under: Communis